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I think it is finally safe
to say that Reality TV is heading too far. Though, as I write
this, I have an overwhelming sense that there is still more to
come. The last week, alone, saw the premiere of at least three
new shows – Joe Millionaire, The Bachelorette
and High School Reunion. I truly believed the entire Reality
TV craze would be a quick phase and then quickly phase out after
a couple seasons of Survivor, Fear Factor and the
Mole. No such luck. It has completely snowballed, and is
even gaining a second wind with the enormous hype behind The
Osbournes and the scorn of Trista losing on the original Bachelor.
MTV, it seems, does it best.
They were the pioneers – not once, but two times – of
the reality movement. First, with the Real World, and again
with Jackass and The Osbournes. The first Real
World was a phenom ahead of its time but a great concept with
a house full of people of all shapes and types: fat, skinny, gay,
straight, black, white, belligerent and naïve, all trying
to get along. The formula was set. The second season introduced the drama that would only escalate from that year forward. Slowly each season of The Real World got prettier, handsomer. Now, every cast is perfectly polished, with toned trim bodies, and every personality is coordinated flawlessly to clash. They are about as real as half of Hollywood's breasts. The progression from as real
as Reality TV can be to purely manipulated pseudo-real TV is most
apparent by placing the first season of The Real World
alongside the current one. The New York crew arrived in varying
shapes and sizes, without a lot of flare. I believed they were
seven strangers picked randomly to live in a loft. And where are
the Pucks of today? He cannot be the only one of his kind out
there in the world today. Now, the cast is beefed up and beautiful
– I have a hard time even telling some of the castmates apart.
It has been reduced purely to who is sleeping with who and how
much of it do we, the viewers, get to see. Whatever happened to
the conflicts of old with Julie screaming at Kevin on a New York
sidewalk or Pedro flipping out about Puck and his snot rockets?
It is a natural, visible transition that by the next Bachelor/Bachelorette
or Survivor the participants will be on the prettier side
of the populace.
Two new reality shows have
absolutely done it for me: Joe Millionaire and Extreme
Makeovers. A fictional movie was made to parody the reality
TV craze with a plot that follows a pack of people who try to
kill each other for a monetary prize. I feel we may not be that
far off. Extreme Makeovers? That is a tad too far. People
actually consent to plastic surgery in order to improve their
appearance. It's almost cartoonish. Joe Millionaire is not
reality – he is not really a millionaire. It is a human game
show and it is a train wreck watching these women making absolute
fools of themselves over a man they think is worth $50 million.
It is a romantic comedy gone bad. It directly transfers the formula
so prevalent in fictitious films and TV shows and tries to make
them "real." Every reality show perpetuates
the next. The obsession with vanity has led neatly into Extreme
Makeovers. Generally, makeovers are good-natured topics reserved
for a single episode of Oprah, or allowed a weekly spot
like Makeover Monday's on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. The
people of Extreme Makeovers actually go under a knife and
receive plastic surgery to improve their looks. After insisting
that the show was not superficial, the producer of Extreme
Makeovers explained to Access Hollywood, "These
people don't have low self-esteem, they just got dealt a bad deck
of cards." Surely he's not promoting it's what's on the outside
that counts. What's next? People are being used and abused on
these human game shows disguised as Reality TV and America just
cannot turn away. The problem with shows like
Joe Millionaire, The Bachelorette and High School
Reunion is that I feel almost wrong watching them. The entire
premise and appeal of Reality TV is to gain a voyeuristic view
into ordinary, real situations, but when a camera is inserted
into any situation that is manipulated and orchestrated, the result
is not real. And how far is too far? One unfortunate soul on High
School Reunion achieved her ultimate goal of scoring a date
with her crush from back in the day, who happened to be labeled
"the Player." Sure enough, at the end of the date, he
whipped out his charms and proved that not much has changed since
Senior Year. The woman appeared desperate to hold onto him after
one date that was coordinated by the show in the first place.
Who wants to see that? Everyone knows situations such as that
do occur, and most have most likely experienced it themselves.
Why cause such emotions to be stirred in front of the viewing
public? It leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. There are so many more to choose
from. Survivor and Fear Factor are now network staples,
and with the success of American Idol, Star Search
has come out of the dustbin. Then there are the shows like Celebrity
Mole and The Surreal Life, which are, as one Y100 DJ
put it, "has-been heaven." They are vehicles for stars
with fledgling careers looking to make a paycheck doing the only
thing they know how – performing in front of a camera.
Going the route of Reality
TV has become a vehicle for beautiful people to gain face time
on TV. However, very few of them are ever seen again, except,
of course, on seasons of The Real World/Road Rules: Extreme
Challenge. Look at the celebs participating in Celebrity
Mole or Celebrity Fear Factor: the scripts don't seem
to be pouring in for them since their appearances. The madness has got to stop.
I'm tired of hearing about it, I'm tired of seeing it. Half the
time, I feel so bombarded with reality programming I'm forced
to watch it to see just what it's all about. I believe it's along
the lines of, "If you can't beat em, join em?" Then,
all I end up with is a big enough dose of feeling like crap for
people I don't even really care to know about. Megan Mc. Agree or Disagree??? Let me know what you think, email me at meganmc@empyrelounge.com
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